


Back home

by Squiddiboo



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Aviators and Omega are also here but they're minor characters, I wrote the first half at 1am and my god it's 1am again as I struggle to publish this on ao3 mobile, Other, skull and vin are queerplatonic partners so google that if you don't know what that is, this is literally just my self indulgent kinnie bullshit I'm so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29011614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squiddiboo/pseuds/Squiddiboo
Summary: Skull's been out of town all weekend and Vintage is a sap who misses him.Set before the events of the Manga.
Relationships: Skull & Vintage (Splatoon), Skull/Vintage (Splatoon)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. I can't wait to get back to you too

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write skullvin cuddles but then I ended up accidentally writing a short fluffy lead up for context so I'll put it here.
> 
> Set pre-manga. I hc that there was almost no standardisation of weapons and ranks back then, hence the talk of customised/modified weapons.
> 
> I haven't written and published anything in literal years so go easy on me.

Vintage is sick of waiting: he's memorised that the optimal train home gets in at 5:56, and he's checked his phone for any potential delays, and the walk from the station to their apartment is exactly 12 minutes, and it's now 6:07, so where the shell is Skull?

His qpp has been out of town all weekend for an elite 1v1 tournament for charger players that's hosted every summer. It's the first tournament of its kind that any of them have entered, and considering the wide scope of players interested (no pun intended), none of them are quite sure who the airhead sniper might be up against. The tournament being hosted too far away to easily travel home between days meant he'd had to stay the night somewhere nearby, and despite their best saving efforts, the team didn't have enough money to book them all in, so Skull had to go by himself, with Aviators giving him clear, strict directions. The airhead sniper had actually only texted back to say he'd gotten lost twice, and one time he was only looking for the bathroom. Pretty impressive, as far as Skull goes.

But now Vintage just wants him back home. Aviators has only just come through the door himself with an oversized chocolate cake for when the co-captain makes his return, and is currently transferring it onto something nicer than the cardboard box it came in, while Omega sets the table. Looking at the rest of his team's hard work, he almost feels bad for curling up on the couch in a ball of worry and alternating between aimlessly scrolling through his phone and fiddling with the TV remote. There's nothing good on, as always, so he switches back to his phone and plugs the password in. It opens on his last conversation with Skull.

_It's over. Just packing my things and I'll be on my way home soon._

_How did you do???_

_Tell you later. Don't want to ruin the surprise. 💜_

_You bastard! I hope you took pictures._

_Don’t worry, I did. Love you too Vin._

He's still debating whether to pester the sniper with another text, but if Skull is walking home he's probably not got his phone to hand. He could call him, but-

"Any new messages?" Omega's sudden comment makes Vintage jump a little bit. 

"No," he says, turning to face her. There's a look on her face that conveys she knows something's bothering him, and he can't deny his sister an explanation of his jumpiness. "He's late."

"He'll be home soon. Try not to worry too much about it, yeah?" His sister ruffles his hair and gives him a reassuring smile as she walks back to the table, and he relaxes into the sofa, sinking into the ambiance of the room and the mild buzz of the TV. He takes a deep breath in, and sighs. No point getting worked up over nothing. Skull will be home soon.

Just as he relaxes something begins to rattle in the front door's lock. He shoves his phone in his pocket and jumps up; he almost trips on the arm of the couch but it doesn't matter, there's only one person that could be as the key clicks, and the door swings open, and Vintage practically explodes with joy.

"Skull!"

He's greeted by his qpp, a suitcase pulled behind him on one side and his signature modified scope slung on his back in its sticker ridden homemade case. Skull opens his arms and Vintage practically leaps into the hug.

"I missed you so much." Vintage buries himself into the taller squid's chest and relaxes as Skull pulls him closer. He doesn't know if it's simply the fact he's back home or the warmth of the embrace or both, but his anxieties melt away as he melts into Skull's arms. Vintage breaks the hug with some resistance to look up at him, and from those deep purple eyes alone he can read that under his bandana, Skull is beaming.

"I won."

"You WON?"

Skull lets out something that's almost a chuckle. "Yeah, I won."

"Meg! Aviators!" Vintage turns round to the rest of the front room. "He WON!"

"You what?" Aviators peaks his head round the kitchen door. 

Skull's invisible smile seems to grow even wider, at least Vintage thinks so. "I won," he repeats.

"Yo, I knew you could do it!" Aviators dashes over to the doorway and gives his friend a hug, much to Vintage's impatience. The shorter squid is far too excited to really care, however, and rocks on his heels until the two break the brief embrace, where he immediately takes one of Skull's hands. Aviators puts one of his own hands on his hip. "That’s our Skull for you."

"Am I hearing this right?" says Omega, as she comes to join the celebrations.

"Of course you are," answers Vintage as Skull pulls his suitcase in and sets his charger down against the wall.

"Good," she smiles, "because Aviators bought this ridiculously huge cake."

Vintage watches Skull's ears perk up as all three of them turn to Aviators. "Is it chocolate cake?"

"How long have I known you?" Aviators laughs. "Of course it's chocolate cake."

Skull squeezes Vintage's hand. "Then I'm having some right now."

"Of course, oh great sniper of Inkopolis," says Aviators, bowing sarcastically. Vintage watches Skull's eyes squint shut in joy as he snorts at the dramatics. The late afternoon sun strikes through the window and hits the taller inkling's purple tentacles perfectly, and light bounces off them, shimmering at subtle angles as his body moves with his laughter. Vintage can't help but stare in awe, and smile even wider with him, his hand still held. He's completely transfixed in the moment until Skull squeezes the smaller squid's hand again and pulls them both to the kitchen.

"I can't wait to tell you all about it."


	2. I can't wait to hear about it too

Skull's more than happy to tell Vintage about the tournament: after cake and a long group chat, Omega and Aviators have let the two sneak off to their room to have time to themselves. As soon as they're both sitting on Skull's bed with the door shut, he pulls the smaller squid into another hug and shifts his bandana down to plant a tiny kiss on Vintage's forehead. It's a common exchange between the two, as it is when Vintage knocks the taller squid backwards so they can cuddle properly. It's a little too warm to be comfortable, so Skull watches as Vintage half pushes himself back up and lazily puts the fan on before flopping back down to his partner.

The combination of the sun through the window, the fan, and the squid half on top of him makes Skull feel so comfortable he could fall asleep if he wasn't still excited to share his victory. Excitement aside, the long weekend had been exhausting, and he lets his eyes drift shut as Vintage quizzes him, but still makes sure to give detailed replies. He's already explained the general gist of what happened to the whole team; Vintage was here for the extra bits.

And who was Skull to keep his adventures to himself? His voice was a low compliment to the hum of the fan and the ambiance of an early summer evening, and it was like music to Vintage. Skull was evidently relaxed, but his mannerisms still hinted at enthusiasm every time Skull chuckled at his own wording, or opened those deep eyes of his to glance at Vintage for emphasis, or lightly drummed his fingers on Vintage's back. Overwhelmed by love, Vintage's only response was to try and pull his partner even closer than they were already as he hung off Skull's every word.

"I'm still a little amazed I managed to win that one." Skull lets his head fall more to the side, and Vintage senses the small shift in the origin of his voice, and shuffles over in a way that allows him to look back up at him properly. "Jumping enemies are so much harder to hit."

Vintage smirks. "I'm making note of that for the next time we have a 1v1."

"Dear cod Vin…" Skull rolls his eyes. "Hitting you is hard enough when you play splatling."

"Good thing you just proved yourself as the best charger player in the region," Vintage replies somewhat smugly, and moves his hand up to cup Skull's face, in the hopes the gesture and complement might fluster the taller squid. Skull seems to lean into the touch a little, and his cheeks tint themselves with a dark purple. He can't hide his blush or his smile when Vintage has him this close, and so he just shuts his eyes and embraces the moment. It's nice when Vintage makes him feel like this.

"Besides, Skully," - Skull once again struggles to hold back an even wider smile at the nickname - "I might have ordered something while you were away that might make me an easier target."

That momentarily snaps Skull out of his queer haze. "Wait... what?" He raises where an eyebrow would be at the short, smug squid next to him, who's now moved the hand from Skull's face to his side and is gently tapping it repeatedly in excitement.

"I said, I might have ordered something that might end up making me an easier target." Vintage is being sarcastically patient with him in his own know-it-all kind of way, but patient nonetheless, and gives Skull a smile anyway. The repeated message gives the taller squid enough time to process what his partner said and remember what Vintage has been saving up for.

"You've ordered it?" 

"Yes!" Vintage's tapping suddenly speeds up. "I offered the money to help fund the whole team coming with you, but then we still didn't have enough, so I thought I may as well order it while I have the cash." The tapping stops as Vintage finds Skull's free hand and squeezes it instead. "Can you imagine me with my very own custom made Hydra?"

Skull squeezes the hand back, and pulls Vintage even closer to him. "We're going to be unstoppable." He lets Vintage adjust himself to a comfortable enough position, knowing he's about to prompt his partner to ramble. "What's the specs on this thing?"

Vintage's tapping starts up again. "I told them I'm not the strongest or biggest physically and they've said they're using a slightly smaller hydrant for the front, and a vertical drop system on the tank, so that the shots can have range and power whilst using a lighter tension system." Skull watches as Vintage finds a part of his two layered shirt and fiddles with the sleeve. "It will mean a sacrifice in shot speed, but it makes the charge time quicker. Being such a heavy weapon though, I don't know how many matches I'll be able to use it for in a row, which is a shame."

"Interesting... But you'll be able to practice your strength with it," Skull says as he reaches round to ruffle Vintage's bangs as he talks. "And then you might be able to pick me up for once," he adds.

Vintage smiles at that and moves to fiddling with Skull's bandana instead. It's still tied, but sits around his neck instead. "As if I need a Hydra for that. You might be tall but you're like a twig." He pokes Skull's arm for emphasis. There's a slight muscular resistance, but nothing unusual for someone his age. "I could probably pick you up anyway."

"How come you don't?" A playful tone seeps into Skull's voice. "You always insist on leaping at me when we win matches."

Vintage has almost climbed completely on top of him now, and props his face on Skull's chest to look up at him. "You have more time to put that dodgy charger of yours down if you're the one doing the catching," he remarks. "You don't want that thing spewing ink, do you?"

Skull snorts at that. "You hardly give me enough time to put it down anyway… and you always knock us both over."

Vintage lies his head down to the side, a hint of colour finding its way onto his face. "Well, first time we win with my new Hydra, you can swim and leap at me instead." He gives Skull a sweet look, and reaches up to cup his face again, but Skull furrows his brow and grins.

"And you still won't be able to catch me."

Vintage's cheeks instantly darken. "Oh my cod." He reaches over to find something non lethal and throwable - a spare cushion - and chucks it at Skull's face as he sits up. "Shut up Skull."

It's muffled a little under the makeshift projectile, but Vintage can hear Skull laughing again. It's infectious, too infectious for him to hold himself back, and once he's starts he just can't stop, and soon Skull moves the cushion out of the way to watch the way his partner's face flushes up in laughter, and the way his tentacles catch in the breeze of the fan, and the way Vintage has to eventually flop back down onto him as they descend into a fit of giggles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can writing be considered ooc if you're writing them from before they soured their relationship and got their more canon personalities? Who knows. It's my kinnie bullshit and I get to decide what's in character.


End file.
